Multi-user downlink transmission involves, at a base station, multiplexing transmissions for multiple User Equipment (UEs) and transmitting a resulting multiplexed signal. The multiple UEs then receive the multiplexed signal and are responsible for decoding the portion of the multiplexed signal intended for them. Multi-user uplink transmission involves multiple UEs transmitting and the base station receiving a multiplexed version of the respective signals. The base station is then responsible for decoding each of the signals from the respective UEs.
With respect to multi-user downlink, the computational capability of decoders in UEs is limited, and therefore will impose limits on the number of signals that can be multiplexed together in a multi-user multiplexed signal and that can therefore be received and recovered.
Demand for higher data rates in telecommunications systems continues to push the need for improvements in signal transmission between a network and UEs. Improvements in multi-user downlink and uplink are an area that could aid in meeting demand for higher data rates.